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2013 Free Agent Frenzy live blog

by
Derek Jory
/ Vancouver Canucks

Let the frenzy begin!

Well hello there. Welcome to Free Agent Frenzy, which you can call FAF if you want to sound cool in front of your friends. My name is Derek Jory and I’ll be your host for today’s good times; the reviews are in from my 2013 NHL Draft live blog: “it was cute,” “you’re an idiot, son” and “we pay you to talk about Jurassic Park?” – fingers crossed today’s blog is equally as well received.

I’ll be reporting live from Canucks Headquarters all day with the latest surrounding the Vancouver Canucks as management continues to shape this team for the 2013-14 NHL season and beyond. The Canucks war room is just down the hallway and I plan on peaking through the keyhole a lot today, so stay tuned for updates you can’t get anywhere else.

One ground rule: I will be reporting rumours as they surface from qualified sources, which includes my bobblehead Marshall Faulk; all rumours will appear in italics to keep things running smoothly.

If you've got any questions, comments, complaints or simply want to reminisce about how foolish Joey was choosing Pacey over Dawson in the end, leave a comment below, tweet @VanCanucks, or write it down, put it in a ziploc bag, bake a cake and put it in the cake and then send me the cake and I'll eat my way to your query. Mmmm....cake.

Let's do this.

8:38 a.m. (PST) -- What's up everybody! It seems like just five days ago we were here, me writing, you reading, and now we're reunited again. This was meant to be. I missed you. You look great in that sweater. The blog is officially up and running; my first crucial update is to inform you of my breakfast, which will be apple cinnamon oatmeal with granola on top.

1:12 - Pacey was a better fit for Joey than Dawson? Come on mandygroening, that's a lie! I'm gonna really show my true colours here and say that Dawson and Joey belonged together, they were soul-mates. Good talk. Back to hockey now.

1:22 -- @b_ryan9: My gf just asked me if we were moving north of Detroit. Not a geography major haha

1:45 -- Welcome to the family Brad Richardson. Now get rid of everything LA Kings asap.

2:08 -- The fan feedback seems positive about Richardson, which is good. This guy is feisty and is going to bring aggression and a nice edge. Speak of edge, I love the movie The Edge, loved the bear, and you'll have to bear with me when I get distracted like this.

2:34 -- Richardson conference call: "I'm super happy to be part of the Vancouver Canucks. I flew in there and met with the team, that was big and just getting in and sitting down with the guys was important to me. This is going to be a great fit for me."

2:35 -- Richardson is a natural centre, but he's played left and right wing. The Canucks want him to play centre.

2:38 -- Richards on playing for Tortorella: "Darryl can be pretty demanding, he's a great coach, but he demands a lot of his players. John will probably be the same way. I've heard from other players he's a great coach, fair, but tough."

2:41 -- Richards on how he sees the Canucks: "Very tough team to play against, they've got great goaltending, great forwards, great D, they want to win and so do I. I want to win again. I wanted to go to a team that was good and has a chance to win, that's why I'm here. I'm very excited about this."

3:10 -- @Team1040: Hear from Brad Richardson coming up at 3:15pm on #TEAM1040 with @patersonjeff and @tg_gman.

3:13: -- GM Mike Gillis is scheduled to speak to the media at 4 p.m. today, so if there are more moves coming, they'll be coming in the next little bit, unless they come after that.

3:26 -- @SportsnetSpec: Per @RenLavoieRDS, Lapierre to the Blues on a two-year deal. All the best in St. Louis, Lappy. I'll miss the grit, the good quotes and you still have my camera, I forgot it in the back of your SUV when we visited you in Montreal last year...

3:45 -- I'm getting sleepy. Nothing to report right now, but until Gillis emerges from the war room, anything could happen, yes anything could happen, anything could happen #elliegoulding

4:11 -- Mike Gillis just spoke and he spoke highly of the new recruits. Said Richardson has been on the Canucks radar for a while and that Weber's booming shot, which he compared to that of Sami Salo, will help on the power play. He added the Canucks feel better coming out of the draft than they have in years that the young prospects will push for positions on the team.

4:21 -- Not sure if anyone is still reading this, but if so, rest assured I'll be here until Mike Gillis walks past my office on his way home. We could still do anything until then.

4:50 -- Iginla to the Bruins? Oh man.

5:00 -- And with that, the live blog comes to an end as Mike Gillis walks past my office. Thanks for following along, it's been a blast, as always. Have a super weekend!